Lizzie's Big Move
by tomboychik
Summary: Lizzie's new friend's and style may be a mistake...


Lizzie's Move  
  
Chapter 1  
  
It was a rainy, dark, grouchy day, in September 2004, when my mom dropped the news on me. Bam!!! Just like that. "Lizzie, come down here," my mom called to me from down stairs. " Just a minute, Mom," I called back down to her. By the way my name is Lizzie Ashlei Spezzafarro. I am 12 years old and in 6th grade go in to seventh. In three days is my birthday. I live in Seattle, Washington. I can see the space needle from my house. I go to Seattle Junior High and I am on the basketball team, called the Rockets. I have strawberry blond hair, and hazel eyes. " Come on, Angel," I told my cockier spaniel, and just like always, Pugsly, my pug puppy followed Angel and I as we trotted down the slick, tan stairs. On the last step Pugsly always falls down to the wooden floor. And again he did. " Yeah, Mom?" I asked as I walked though the lit-up den. My mom was in the kitchen at the island making lunch. Chicken patties. Yummy. But it was only 10:10 in the morning. We usually eat lunch at 12:30, but I guess not today. I hopped on one of the stools in front of the island. " Honey," mom said, "I have something to tell you". She seemed kind of excited. " Yyeeaahhh, what?" I asked. She sliced the pickles faster on the wooden cutting board. " Well," She began, " You see, my job has added a new location, and they needed more people to work there, sooo the point is, we are moving." She stopped chopping the pickles and turned to the stove and flipped the patties. " Cool, so are we moving to, like, Olympia?" I asked her back. " No, not actually, um try more like Malibu Beach, California," She said slowly. " That's two states away!" I replied. " You aren't mad, are you?" Mom asked turning around. " Well, kind of," I told her. " Do they surf there?" Mom turned around again to get the puppy chow under the sink. "I don't know," she called from under the sink. My mom works as a computer program designer. So dose my dad. Pugsly, who had been sleeping, heard the creaking of the cabinet door and perked up, and ran under the sink where the bag of food was. I laughed. Angel, who had been listening to mom and I, went over to the back sliding glass door and picked up Pugsly and her doggie bowl and dropped them at my feet. Angel always did that at breakfast, lunch and dinner. But she only had to get hers at breakfast because Pugsly beat her to wake up and brought his own. I looked out the window and saw that the rain almost stopped. It was only drizzling now. I turned to get the dogs their food. Pugsly practically jumped a foot high when I put his food down on his mat. He is very active for a three-month- old puppy. Angel is only one month older than him, four-months old. She is active after she is fed and playing. As mom was serving the patties, my cell phone thrilled out Beethoven's 9th symphony. " Be right back, mom," I called to her as I ran up the stairs, and into my room. " Hello?" I said into the receiver. "Hi, Lizzie? It's Summer, I wanted to know if you wanted to come over today?" Summer is my best friend. I have known her since I was born, literally. We were both born in the same hospital, and our moms' have been friends since high school, and we live in the same neighborhood. Weird, isn't it? "Lizzie are you there?" Summer asked me. " Yeah, what? Oh, let me ask my mom. Mom after lunch can I go over to Summer's?" I waited about a minute for a reply, " Mom? Did you hear me? Can I go to Summer's after lunch?" " Sure honey," she called up to me. " My mom said sure! I'll see you later k? Bye Summer," I said into the receiver. " Bye Lizzie, see you", she said back. I ate lunch in about eight minutes, tops, while mom and I chatted about moving. I really wanted to get to Summer's house because I kind of have a crush on her older brother, James. Summer has a little brother and sister too. Actually her younger siblings are twins, Michael and Maddie. They are both nine years old. James is fourteen, only one more year older than me. I shoved my cell phone in my jacket pocket, threw on my sandals and flew out the door. I ran as fast as I could to Summer's house dodging streetlights and puddles from the rain. I ran up Summer's porch and threw open the door. You might think that it is not nice not to ring the doorbell, but since I was five I never did. I just ran in. " Hi Mrs. O' Neal, Hi Mr. O'Neal." " Hi Lizzie," they replied together. It was only 10: 25. I ran into the living room and passed the twins who were watching TV and eating chips. I ran up the stairs and nearly collided with James, who was coming out of Summer's room. He was dressed in his football outfit. He plays Quarterback for our school's football team. I think the morning announcements said that there would be a football game on the last day of school. I don't really listen to them that much. " Hi James," I said. "Hi Lizzie, what's the rush?" he asked. " Oh, nothing much. Is there a football game today?" " Yeah, will you be there? I heard that the people that went would be able to raffle for a fifty-dollar certificate at any store in the mall." "Cool, well Summer's waiting," I called as I walked down the hall. "Hey Summer what's up?" Summer was on her blue cat-basket chair listening to music; her boom box was blaring. " Hey Lizzie," Summer yelled over the noise of the music. She got up and turned the volume down. " Hey Lizzie," she said again. "Are you ready?" "Ready for what?" I asked. " We are going to the football game," she replied. " Oh, yeah," I said, " Sure I'm ready, lets go." " We have to wait for my parents to get ready," she called from inside her closet. She came back out with a blowup backpack and a blowup wallet just like mine; but hers is purple and mine are blue. I gave those to her for her birthday last year. Just then something in my backpack beeped. It wasn't my cell phone. I looked inside and guess what I found? It was my long lost beeper. Well, a long week lost beeper. My mom had called. I took out my cell phone and called her back. "Hello? Who is this?" my mom spoke into the receiver. "Hi mom, you beeped?" " Yeah, I wanted to know if you needed any money for the football game?" " No, I have some, but we are going to the mall after, if you want to donate money to the needy?" I joked. " Very funny, but I will drop off some money on my way to the flea market. O.K.?" " Sure," I told her. " Lizzie?" Summer asked me. " Hold on mom." " O.K. but the flea market opens in fifteen minutes and I want to get there before it gets zooed." " My mom said that you could sleep over tonight, do you want to?" Summer asked impatiently. " Let me ask my mom k?" I told her, " Mom, can I sleep over tonight at Summer's?" I asked hopefully. " As long as it is O.K. with Summer's mom." " Yes! Thanks mom, bye, oh and drop off my things and sleeping bag, clothes, and my make-up case too, please." "Will do," said my mom, " Bye." My mom hug up the phone and so did I. " Summer, lets go," called Maddie from the foot of the stairs. " We'll be right there, Maddie," Summer called back down to her. " Mom said that we are going to leave without you if you don't come down her right now!" she yelled back up to us. " We better go," I told Summer. "Yeah, we better. Summer replied. " Bye Tweety," I called to Summer's parrot. " Bye Tweety, Bye Tweety," he repeated. I laughed. Tweety was so funny, he could tell jokes and even speaks Spanish sometimes. We hurried down the stairs with our backpacks hitting our backs. Everybody was already in the car waiting for us. Just then a blue convertible stopped at the end of the driveway. It was my mom. I walked down to the car and my mom handed me my things for the sleepover and seventy-five dollars! Summer helped me load my stuff up in the trunk of the van and then climb in. In the driver and passenger's seats sat Summer's parents, in the seat behind them sat Maddie, Michael and James. In the very back of the van in the last three seats sat Summer and I. We had the whole seat to ourselves. My mom honked her horn and drove off to the flea market. We started to drive out of the garage. " Lizzie, before we go to the football game we are going to pick up Casey," Summer informed me. " O.K." I answered. We turned left at the corner house and then drove down a long road that had houses on both sides. After a peach hose we turned onto a long driveway with tons of trees. When we got to the end of the driveway, there was Casey standing outside with her sleeping bag and things. Just as Casey was climbing in the car, Sara, Casey little sister and Maddie's best friend came charging out of the front door with her sleeping bag and things, too. "Oh, did I tell you guys that Maddie invited Sara to sleepover?" Summer told us slowly. " Nooo," Casey and I answered. "But Sara did say something about a sleepover," Casey pointed out. " O.K. well, um, guys Sara is sleeping over tonight," Summer informed us as if we did not already know. Pretty soon we pulled into the football field and searched for a parking space. "Dad, can we get out, now?" whined Summer. " I haven't even found a parking space yet," her dad replied. " So, just let us out please?" Summer asked. " Fine, go ahead." " Yes," said Summer, " Thanks Dad. We climbed out of the van with the little ones and James following. " Hold on, guys," James told us, "Wait for me," he said as he opened up the trunk door and pulled out his football equipment. " Hey guys," Hannah called to us. Hannah was another friend from school and had two older brothers that are on the football team and one younger brother. "Hi Hannah," I called back to her. "Are Kevin and Scott already here?" James asked her. " Yeah they are warming up, they told me to tell them when you showed up," Hannah told him. " Bye Dad," Summer called back to her dad over her shoulder. Her dad found a parking space and got out the folding lounge chairs and basket full of food and drinks. As we walked to the felid, Scott and Kevin came running up to James. "Hey everybody, nice day for a game, eh?" Scott asked. " Sure is," Casey replied. By then Summer's parents had caught up with us. We found a good spot by Hannah's family and set up the chairs. Maddie, Michael and Sara sat on a blanket on the grass with Hannah's little brother, Justin. The game would start in about fifteen minutes. Summer, Casey and I decided to get a soda from the cooler. As we rummaged through Summer's dad came up behind us with a jug of ice cold water. Right when we closed the cooler Mr. O'Neal opened the jug and dumped all the water on us! " AAAHHH!" We all screamed at the same time. Everybody, even James's coach, looked our way. "Dad!" Summer screamed. She started to chase her dad around the lounge chairs. " Come on Lizzie," Casey whispered to me. I followed her to the concession stand. " Three bottles of water, a white cherry Icee and, what flavor do you think that Summer would like?" Casey asked me. " Um, Coke," I replied " O.K. and two Cokes. Make those all large please," Casey told the concession stand worker. " Coming right up," he told us as he closed the door on the counter. We could hear Summer still screaming and chasing her dad. The door open and the guy handed us our order in a carrier. " Four fifty- six please. Would you like to enter your name in the raffle also?" " Here, and sure," Casey said as she handed him a five- dollar bill. He handed her back fourty- four cents and two tickets. We walked back slowly sipping our Icees. " Help me!" Summer screamed to us. We ran back to the chairs and put down our drinks in the cooler so they wouldn't melt. Then we opened up the water bottles and gave one to Summer and chased her dad. Finally we snuck up behind Mr. O'Neal and slowly dumped the water over his head. We all started to laugh, even Summer's dad. " Got you!" Casey yelled as we ran back to the chairs. Mr. O'Neal ran behind us. We took out our drinks and gave Summer's hers. " What about mine?" Summer's dad asked. " Sorry, only thirteen years-olds aloud." Summer told him. " Lizzie's not thirteen yet," Mr. O'Neal said. " I will be in a couple of days," I said. All this time Mrs. O' Neal was just sitting in her chair laughing at us. She still was. Over the loudspeaker the coach said that the game was about to start. James threw the ball to the eighty- yard line. Then Kevin caught the ball and ran down to ninety and a half-yard line and David, another player on the team ran the ball down to the hundred- yard line! Touchdown! Only five minutes into the game and the Bulldogs already got a touchdown. The Tigers got two points and then the Bulldogs took the lead with three more points. By the end off the game the Bulldogs had won with seven. And the Tigers had five. We waited for the raffle. Some people picked up and left. " Ticket number 25430!" The coach called. And guess who won? " I won! Oh, yeah I won!" I screamed. I walked up to the coach and showed him my ticket. Then he handed me my fifty- dollar certificate. I ran back to Summer and Casey who were packing up. Casey was holding my drink. " Thanks," I told her. We walked back to the van. It was only 11:03. We loaded our things up and got our backpacks from the trunk. Then we all climbed in and headed for the mall. It was a huge mall. Five stories high with an eight- screen Movie Theater, two arcades and tons of stores. It was 11:18 exactly. We pulled in a parking space and Summer, Casey, Maddie, Sara and I all climbed out of the van and walked toward the mall. " Bye guys, I will pick you up in seven hours okay?" Mrs. O'Neal called as she drove away. The guys didn't go to the mall because they said they had better things to do. We walked into the mall and the smell of chocolate and pretzels and lots of other smells drifted into our noses. "Yum," Sara slowly as she sniffed in the odor. " Let's go to the food court," suggested Summer. " O.K.," I said. " I don't want to eat yet," piped up Maddie. " I want to shop first, you can go eat and we will go shop O.K.?" "Sure," replied Casey. As we walked to the food court we discussed about what we were going to eat. " I'm gettin' a chicken sandwich," Summer informed everybody. " I'm going to get a hamburger at B.K. and a Icee, " I told Summer and Casey. " I might get what you are getting, Lizzie," Casey told me. We ordered our food at the same time and met back at a table. Casey leaned over to me and asked, " Should we tell her?" " No not yet," I whispered back. Summer was to busy eating to pay attention to us. We finished our food and walked down to the music store. " Hi Melody," I called to a worker there. Melody was a girl who worked at the music store and since I was little she had always helped me find what I needed. When I mean little, I mean like in fifth grade. " Hi Lizzie," she called back, " Can't talk right now I am to busy." We walked around the store and after a while Casey came running to us. " Guess what I found??" she practically screamed. She was waving a C.D. in the air. " What?" I asked excitedly. " I found the first copy of BFF!!!" this time she yelled. Every body in the store looked our way. Summer laughed nervously. BFF was the newest and hottest band. No store had any more C.D.'s they were all sold out like the first day the came out. " BFF?" I asked, " Was it there last copy?" " No the have two left other than this one." Casey showed us where she found the C.D. and we all bought one. They only cost eleven dollars. We walked across to the next store. We looked into the windows. " Whoa, look at that bikini, " Summer said. We walked into the store and found the rack that had the bikini. It had a top that came down in a V and shorts. We all looked for a size ten. I found one in blue, Casey found one in yellow and orange, and Summer found one in purple. We took them and browsed around the store some more. The store was like a beach store; it had every thing you needed for the beach. I still had thirty-nine dollars left on my certificate card and then plus the seventy-five dollars my mom gave me and the fourty dollars I had in my backpack. I had over one hundred and fifty dollars in my backpack! I saw a towel that I had seen in K-Mart, but this one was like, twenty dollars cheaper. I picked up the towel and put it over my arm. I also saw this glitter sun tan lotion; my mom said that she wouldn't waist her money on that stuff for me, so I bought it. I told Summer and Casey that I was going to check out and they came out to the cash register with their bathing suits and some other things. My total came out to be twenty- five dollars. I paid with my card and waited for Casey and Summer. Now I had fourteen dollars left on my card. We skipped the next store because it was a baby store. The next store had things for your beeper and cell phones. Casey and Summer didn't want to go in, so they waited outside for me. I knew the person that worked there too. I took out my beeper and cell phone. I traded in my beeper for a see-through blue beeper and I traded my old cell phone cover for an American flag one. " Bye Kenny," I called as I walked out the door. I didn't have to pay because I gave him my old ones. " Cool," Casey said admiring my new cover and beeper. " Yeah," Summer said. We walked down to a shop called " In The Future". It had tons of cool things that are suppose to be cool in the future. They had the same things as last time so we left. By that time it was already 1:34. " Summer!" Maddie called from across the hall. She and Sara came running up to us, dodging walking people and baby carriages. " Guess what, they just got in a shipment of BFF at the music store!!" Sara yelled. Five different people ran to the music store! We started to laugh. "What's so funny?" Maddie asked. " Well," I started, " We bought the last ones already." I took a deep breath to stop laughing. We all walked down to the Beanie Baby stand. They have tons of animals. I bought a dog named, Wrinkles. He was so cute. The good thing about this mall is that there is no tax! Wrinkles was only twelve dollars. I had two dollars left only my card. I wonder what I can buy. " Want to go to the movies?" I asked. " Sure" Casey replied. We walked to the elevator pushed up and waited. We walked inside and pushed five. We had to wait for a long time because some people came on and some people got off. Finally we were on the fifth floor. We walked over to the movie theater and bought our tickets for Big Fat Lair number three. I have seen the other two movies. We bought snacks and found seats to sit in I balanced my drink and food on my knee while I shoved my backpack behind me. After a while the movie started. It was so funny. When it was all done I was laughing. I laughed all until I threw away my trash and stepped into the arcade. Casey was still laughing. We bought tokens and played lots of games. I had a total of 1, 032 tickets. I had the most. I bought some more tokens and played more games. My favorite game was Ring Stop. A light goes around this ring with numbers on them like one and one hundred and even jackpot. You have to hit a button when the light hits jackpot. But sometimes you get one hundred tickets or even one. I got two jackpots and one, one hundred. By the end of my last token I had 31,132 tickets. I when up to the prize table and looked at all the toys and candy. I finally picked out a pillow that says Angel on one side and Cutie on the other one. I also picked out three huge lollipops, a pair of sunglasses, which by the way were really cool, a stuffed animal which was a dog and three bags of candy, and a miniature lava lamp. I had two tickets left over so I got a piece of bubble gum. We were hungry so we when to the food court. This time I ordered a chocolate shake and a cookie. The cookie was still warm. Yummy! We sat down and ate our food. Sara and Maddie left after the movie. " Let's go shop some more," Summer told us. We finished our food and threw our trash away and shopped. We went into Claire's and California Girl and in to lots of other stores too. The last store we went to was the candy store. It had all the kinds of candy you could dream of. Like gumdrops, and bon bons, lollipops, chocolate, rock candy, gummies, tons and tons more. I got a two-pound bag and filled it up full of things. Casey and Summer went crazy too. After our first bag was full we got another, but this time only a one-pound bag. It was already five fourty one. " We better go guys," I said to the gang. Somehow, Maddie and Sara caught up with us and got candy too. We paid and ran to the elevator. They were already closing so we ran down five flights of stairs. We ran outside and got there just as Mrs. O'Neal pulled up to the curb. Chapter 2  
  
" Your in a hurry," she told us as she stopped. " We wanted to get here, so you didn't have to wait," I informed her, trying to catch my breath. We piled in with all of our things fastened our seat belts and were on the road. About ten minutes later we arrived at Summer's house we unpacked the trunk and trampled inside. " AAAAHH! Killer stampede!" Michael yelled as we ran into the house, "Run for your life!" " Ssshhh!" James told him, "I'm reading." " James, lets go play football, Dad do you want to play?" Michael asked " Sure," called Mr. O'Neal from in the kitchen. Michael ran up to James's room and retrieved the football. They all ran out back to play. " So what did you guys buy?" Mrs. O' Neal asked us excitingly. " I bought a CD, and candy, and a necklace and a pair of flip flops." Maddie said happily, "and we went to the movies." " Same with me," Sara said. " I bought candy, a bathing suit, and flip flops and movie tickets, tokens for the arcade, a CD, a shirt, a necklace, a pair of shorts and pants and things from the arcade, " Casey told Mrs. O' Neal. " I bought candy, a bathing suit, a CD, tokens, a movie ticket, a outfit, a towel, sunglasses, sun tan lotion, and I traded my old cell cover for a new one and I traded my beeper for a whole new one, and lots of things from the arcade," I told her as I unpacked my things. " Practically the same thing here," Summer told her mom. Just then the phone rang. " Hello?" Mrs. O' Neal said when she answered the phone. " Summer, it's Hanna," she called from the kitchen. " Hi Hannah, yeah, sure let me ask. Mom can we go over to Hannah's to swim?" " Sure honey just be back for dinner at eight thirty." Mrs. O' Neal called from the living room. " My mom said that we just have to be back by eight thirty. Bye." We all ran up stairs to get changed in to our bathing suits. When we came out we looked like triplets. We got our towels and slipped on our flip- flops and ran out the backdoor. " Bye guys," I called to the boys as we climbed over fence. We ran around the side of the house. We ran to the front of the hose and saw Ms. Boswell washing her car. " Hi girls," she called. " Hi," We called over our shoulders. We ran across the street to Hannah's house. We ran around back and met her as she came outside. She opened up the screen door and we put our towels on the porch chairs. Just then Kevin and Scott came running outside in their bathing suits and each did a cannon ball in to the pool. Let me tell you, they really splash up some water. "Kevin!" I yelled, the same time Hannah yelled, "Scott!" We ran into the pool after them and jumped in right behind them. "Cat fight!" Justin screamed. He was in his bathing suit, too. Casey sprung out of the pool, ran over to Justin, picked him up over her shoulder and threw him into the pool! Then Casey jumped into the pool and screamed so loud, Muffins, Hannah's dog ran outside and barked up an appetite. After a while of swimming and having tons of fun Summer said " Well we better get heading home, guys," as she climbed out of the pool. " Hey Hannah you want to sleep over tonight?" "Sure!.. Mom can I sleep over at Summer's?" "Sure!" Hannah's mom called back. Hannah ran inside and emerged in a few seconds with an extra pair of clothes, toothbrush and paste, a pillow and a blanket. "I don't have a sleeping bag," she said sadly. "That's O.K., you can use my other one K?" Summer told her. We ran over to Summer's house with our towels wrapped around our waists. We thundered inside and ran up the stairs. We spread out our sleeping bags on the in playroom's floor and ran back up the stairs to the kitchen. "Mmmmm," I said as the smell of dinner drifted into my nose. "What's for dinner, Mom?" Summer asked. "Hamburgers, peas, and salad," Mrs. O'Neal informed us. " Yumm," I replied. Summer started to set the table. Casey, Hannah and I helped. " Thanks guys," Summer told us proudly. Just then Maddie came running down the stairs screaming, " Mom Mom!" Sara came right behind her. " What, What" Mrs. O'Neal asked as she stopped watching the peas cook. " Tweety escaped!!" Sara blurted out. "What?!" Summer screeched as made way for the stairs. Just then a yellow blur flew passed her and made her fall off the stairs! James, Mr. O'Neal and Michael came running inside. " Close the door!" Mrs. O'Neal called. The bird was making a get a way towards the door. Mr. O'Neal slammed the door shut just as Tweety was one foot from the door. He grabbed him and handed him to Summer who ran upstairs to put on in his cage. "Wait!" James called, " Maybe we should let Tweety stay on his perch." " O.K." Summer said as she came back down the stairs. Mr. O'Neal got the perch out of the laundry room. "There you go Tweety," Summer said as she let the bird get on the stick. " Dinner's ready," Mrs. O'Neal called in a singsong voice. We all ran to the table. There was a big commotion about who was sitting where. When every one was settled Mrs. O'Neal served up the food. James, Michael and Mr. O'Neal got into a conversation about football. Mrs. O'Neal, Sara and Maddie started chatting about movies and shows. The rest of us started chatting about what we were going to do tonight. "Thanks Mrs. O'Neal," I said as I got up to put my plate in the sink, "Dinner was great." " Oh, honey, you don't need to do that," She said as I walked around and picked up everyone's plate. "It's O.K.," I replied. " Come on guys, let's go down stairs," Summer told us. We trotted downstairs into the playroom. Summer's playroom is huge! She has a big screen TV with surround sound. And of course, a VCR and tons of videos. You always can have a place to sit; there is a fluffy blue couch, a ruby, red oversized armchair, and tons of beanbags and blow up chairs. I sat down on the armchair and pulled up the blanket over my legs. "What movie should we watch?" I asked. " How 'bout Dr. D Two," Casey replied. " O.K.," I said, "That's all right with you guys?" "Sure," Hannah and Summer said. Summer got up and popped the movie into the VCR. Soon we were all wrapped up in Dr. Dolittle Two. My cell phone rang and made us all jump. "Hello," I said. "Hi Lizzie," someone said. "Daddy?!" I asked. "Yeah, How's my girl doing?" he asked. "Fine," I replied, "I miss you.Where are you.you are?! Cool. OK I'll see you tomorrow, Bye." See my dad is away in California, looking for a house. He sends pictures of all the houses that he looks at. When my mom and I like a house then we will tell my daddy. So far, I like the one with three floors. My mom and dad both like that house too. They say that it is earthquake safe, or something like that. But the only thing is that I haven't told anybody that we are moving. "Who was that?" Casey asked me. "My dad," I replied gluing my eyes back to the movie. "Cool," Summer said. "Your parents are so cool," Hannah said after a moment. "Yeah," Casey replied slowly, " What did he want?" " He just wanted to tell me that he and would come back tonight like he would, and he talked with my mom talked and he bought the new house," I told her. As soon as I noticed I quickly cupped my hands over my mouth. I had let the secret out. "Lizzie," Casey hissed. "New house?" Summer asked suspiciously. "Well. um... you see..," I trailed off. " She's moving," Casey blurted out, "And so am I." "What!" Summer screamed, " Moving? I can't believe it. When?" " The day after tomorrow," I told her quietly. "Let me guess," she yelled as thunder clapped outside. It seemed like it was mad at us, too. " You're leaving with her?" A streak of lightning flashed across the sky. " Yeah," Casey whispered. I saw Summer's eyes glaze over. A small tear rolled down her cheek. "That's just great, the second to last day that summer vacation and my friends tell me that they are moving in TWO DAYS!" " What's all the noise for?" Mrs. O'Neal asked us. She was holding a huge bowl of popcorn. "Nothing, Mom. Everything is just fine," Summer said as she ran up the stairs, passing her mom. We heard her stomp upstairs and slam the door to her room. It made the walls shake. "What's the matter girls?" Mrs. O'Neal asked us patiently. " Me and Casey are moving," I said, looking down at my hands. " I just learned about it today." " My parents told me a couple days ago," Casey said. "Well, why are you both moving?" Hannah asked us, finding her voice. " Um, well both of our parents, my mom and her dad," I said looking from Hannah to Mrs. O'Neal, " They both work as computer program designers, at the same company, and the company got a new branch in Malibu, California." I paused. " And the company needed people to work there, from the original company, and both of our parents volunteered," Casey finished for me. " Well, I heard you are moving in two days," Mrs. O'Neal reported. " Yeah," Hannah said. "I'll go talk to Summer and you kids can watch more movies an eat the popcorn, Ok?" Mrs. O'Neal asked us. " Thanks," I replied as Mrs. O'Neal walked up the stairs. A couple minutes later Summer walked down the stairs. Her eyes were red. I stood up and raced over to the stairs, " I'm sorry," I said as I wrapped my hands around Summer's neck. " I should have told you when I came over." " I'm sorry, too," Casey told Summer. "It's ok, my mom told me what you told said to her," "Well as long as if you are ok with it," I said. "Let's finish watching to movie," Hannah called as she un-paused it. " Your moving two days before your birthday," Summer whispered to me. "Three days," I whispered back. We were silent again until a huge clap of thunder blared outside and the power went out. We screamed. "Mom," Summer cried. We all ran upstairs to the living room. Summer's dad was wearing a raincoat and opened up the front door and disappeared in the heavy rain. Mrs. O'Neal was rummaging though the hall closet. She appeared holding a small battery controlled radio. Mrs. O'Neal switched on the radio. She turned though the channels and came to the weather. The meteorologist stated that, " There is a tropical storm in the California area turning into a hurricane. It is moving towards Washington. We predict that this storm will move up to Canada through Seattle, by tonight." "By tonight!" James exclaimed, " It's already 10:30!" "Don't worry," Mrs. O'Neal said calmly. There was some static and then the announcer came back on. "There is a power outage all of the Seattle area. There might not be any power until this storm passes." It was my turn to panic. " No power?!" "Don't worry, we have flash lights," Mrs. O'Neal told everyone. " Lets go get them," Summer called as she ran upstairs to the hall closet. We rummaged through the closet for about five minutes. " Mrs. O'Neal we only have seven," I called down to her. " I have one," Sara reported. " I have the one that I bought today," Maddie called from the guest room, "Doesn't dad have that huge one in the garage?" " Yeah," James said, "I'll go get it." Now that everyone had a flashlight we could see. " Well the storm knocked down some of the power lines," Mr. O'Neal reported as he took off his drenched raincoat. " So that means that we won't have any power until the power company comes and fixes it, right?" I asked. "Right," James answered. " That's just great," I replied sarcastically. Just then we all heard a loud CRACK! We all ran outside, except Mrs. O'Neal, in the rain. We discovered that it was a huge oak tree, which was one of our favorite climbing trees. When I came back in I was drenched head to toe. Mrs. O'Neal ran upstairs and came back with lots of long, soft towels. She gave each of us one. I draped my over my shoulders. Since we were all in our pajamas; well except for James, Mrs. O'Neal and Mr. O'Neal, we ran upstairs to Summer's room, and the others ran into Maddie's rooms. Summer gave me a long shirt to wear so I went in the bathroom, with my underwear and shirt, and changed. I went back to Summer's room and Casey went next. Summer changed in her closet and Hannah changed behind Summer's Chinese screen. Then with our wet, cold clothes in hand in trotted down the stairs and gave our clothes to Mrs. O'Neal. She put them in the dryer, to dry, so we would have them by the morning. By then it was already past 11:00. I was exhausted. " Let's go to sleep," I said as I climbed down the stairs to our sleeping bags. The rest followed. I climbed in my soft sleeping bag and took out my picture of Angel and Pugsly from my bag. Then another picture of my family. " What's that?" Hannah asked suspiciously. " Pictures," I said. "Isn't it just you your mom, dad and brother?" Hannah asked. " And sister," Casey added. " Oh, yeah," Hannah said. " Where are they?" asked Summer. " Who, my sis and brother?" I asked. " Yeah," Casey replied. " Well my brother is with my dad, they left the day before school ended, and my sister is still in college. She gets out the day after we move, so she is going to drive over to the new house when she gets out." " How long does it take to get to Cali?" Summer asked. " I don't know," I replied, " Maybe about half a day, to a day." " Cool, so now I can come and visit sometimes," Summer said proudly. "Go to bed," a voice called from the stairs. " Ok, Mom," Summer called back. I pulled my sleeping bag over my head as everybody squiggled into the sleeping bags. I pulled my head out and every one had their flashlights. I grabbed mine and turned it on. " What's up?" I asked. " Sssshhhh!" Summer hissed. We quietly got out of our sleeping bags. " Follow me," Summer whispered, " and lose the flash lights." We tossed our light on the floor except Summer. She quietly tiptoed to the stairs. She motioned us to follow her. She walked up the stairs and open up the door to the kitchen. Then she shut off her light. We peered around the corner and saw no one. We quickly tiptoed up the stairs, into the hall. Then Summer led us back down again. " What are we doing?" I asked quietly. " Just walking around the house," Summer replied. " Why?" I asked again. " For fun," Summer asked. " Well, I'm bored," Casey said, as she yawned. Summer led us back to the playroom. I ran to me sleeping bag and squirmed inside. Just then the lights came back on. " Yes, the power's back," I said from underneath my pillow. Hannah made a dash for the remote. As she switched on the TV a clap of thunder shook the walls. The Cosby Show was on, on Nick At Nite. It was a marathon. I guess I fell asleep because I woke up to someone shaking me. " Leave me alone," I groaned. I took a deep breath of air and the aroma of eggs, pancakes, crispy bacon and orange juice filled my nose. I jumped out of my sleeping bag, dug through my bag for my clothes and ran into the bathroom. I changed and fixed my hair in two minutes, tops. I ran up the stairs to the kitchen and met everybody there. " Mornin'" I said as I sat down by Summer and Hannah. Mrs. O'Neal handed me a plate and I started to get eggs, and bacon, and pancakes. Mr. O'Neal sat down at the table with a plate full of little breakfast sausages. I love those. I was the first one to reach the plate, and piled about ten of the sausages on my plate. I ate everything and then had seconds! " Slow down, Lizzie," James said through a mouth full of food. " I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," I replied. Everyone laughed. I forced a small smile. After breakfast, we ran outside in Summer's backyard and started to jump on her trampoline in our bathing suits. When we got hot, we'd just jump into the pool. The water was cool. We played Marco Polo for a while until Mr. O'Neal asked us if we wanted to go to the beach. So, we got packed up and waited awhile everyone else got changed. We loaded up the back and started towards the beach. Michael, James and Summer's dad brought their fishing poles. They said that they were going to go to the fishing side of the beach. In Washington, there are not really any good waves to surf on, like there is in California. Summer had brought her boogie broads for the small waves. We set up the chairs and the cooler. The beach was packed. I mean we couldn't even find a good spot. We probably would have had to come here about at six in the morning to get a better spot. We had to sit by this bald guy and a parked car. The only good thing about that was the car blocked out some of the sunlight. Everyone, Summer, Casey, Hannah and I walked down to this wall of rocks. It was really high. There were some kids already up there, who were jumping off the rocks into the water. " Come one guys," I called as I climbed up the rocks. Casey followed us reluctantly. As we got up to the top, I spotted Maddie and Sara already up there. I watched Sara jump and then Maddie. I was the first one to jump. I stood at the side and looked into the water. I saw the silhouette of the rocks on the ocean floor. I guess that the water was about eight feet deep. "Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" I screamed as I flew down into the cool, salty water fearing that I was going to hit those rocks. I came back up and spit out the water. I forgot the close my mouth. I shaded my eyes as I turned around and looked back up at everyone and waved. They waved back. I climbed up the rocks again using a shortcut that I saw Maddie and Sara use. " How was it?" Casey asked. " Awesome," I said. Summer was next. When it was Casey's turn she hesitated on the edge and then jumped. We jumped for a little while and then made it back to the chairs and towels. I took ten dollars out of my bag and headed for the concession stand. I returned carrying a slush puppy, an Icee, and two cokes, and a cookie for me. I gave a drink to Hannah, Casey and Summer. This is where the trouble starts. As we were lying on our towels, in the soft hot sand, a huge wave crashes down from nowhere! Yep, right on top of us. And guess what? It did not hit anyone else getting them wet! We jumped up so fast that you couldn't even time it, to get out of the way if there was another one. Guess whom we saw? James, Michael, and Mr. O'Neal hold buckets that they use for fishing. " You owe me six fourty-two," I said pointing a finger at James and Michael. They both had this stupid grin on their face. " Why?" they both asked. " You guys ruined our drinks and food," I said. " Hand it over," Summer said. They both reached into their pockets and pulled out money. " I only have five bucks," Michael said. " I have two," James said slowly, fingering his bills. " Perfect," Summer said taking the money, " I'll give you change." We went back to the concession stand and bought what we wanted. We ran back finding that everyone was packing up. We grabbed our towels, and bags and ran back to the car. " Did you guys catch anything?" Sara asked. " No, they were probably to busy wetting us," Summer snapped. " No we didn't catch anything," James said from the back. The car pulled up to the driveway and we scrambled inside. Time out! Just in case you are wondering, when I say "we" I mostly mean Summer, Casey, Hannah and me. Got that? Good. Well as soon as we ran inside and changed into our play clothes, the doorbell rang. Just like all thirteen-year-old girls, we ran to the door just in case it was the cut paperboy or someone like that. But it wasn't. It was Scott, Hannah's older brother. Remember? Hannah ran down to the playroom and grabbed her stuff. " Bye Hannah," we all said. " Bye guys," She answered. She put down her stuff and gave Casey and me huge hug me. " I don't think that I will be able to see you tomorrow," Hannah said sadly. " Don't worry, I'll write," I said as she let go of me. " Write?" She asked, " Ever heard of E-mail?" We laughed. Hannah walked down the street. Summer closed the door and asked: " So, what do you want to do now?" I was only one o'clock. I plopped down on the couch. Casey and Summer sat on either side of me. " I think that I better be getting home. I have to pack," I said reluctantly. " Me too," Casey echoed. " Want to help?" I asked as I walked down the stairs to the playroom. Summer perked up, " Sure." We grabbed our stuff and ran out the door. Summer had to find her dad to tell him where she was going. Casey ran to her house and Summer followed me into mine. " Hi mom," I called as I dropped my stuff off in the guest room and found my mom packing up things in her room. " Hi girls," Mom said as she dug inside her closet. My mom is a pack rat. She will keep anything! Once she found this broken eggbeater in the RV that we bought and she said that she needed to keep it. I couldn't talk her into throwing it away, so my dad had to for her. Secretly. " Mom Summer's going to help me pack and then we are going to help Casey, K?" I asked so fast. " Sure, there some boxes in the kitchen," My mom said as she pulled out a shoe that didn't have any match. We ran up to my room and started with my clothes. " You can have some of the things that I don't want any more, OK?' I asked Summer. " Cool," was my answer. I dumped out my first drawer, which contained just my shirts. My mom may be a pack rat, but she likes to be organized. I took a box and started to fill it up with my shirts, neatly. After that box was finished I started another. I had two and a half boxes full of shirts. So, I took my sweatshirts that filled up the rest of that box and another. After I was all done with my clothes I started to do my sheets and bed things. I have tons of stuffed animals that I sleep with. So I added them with the bed things. Now your probably thinking, "Oh, look Lizzie needs stuffed animals to go to sleep. She's probably afraid of the dark." But that's not true. I have so many that I don't know where to put all of them so I just sleep with them. And, they are kind of like pillows, too. My last stuffed animal just filled up the fifth box. But some of the boxes were small. That included all my Beanie Babies, Beanie Baby Pals, my Disney Character collection, (I still need Goofy) and tons of other animals that I had gotten over the years. The last and final thing that I packed up was my friendship bracelet that Summer had given me in sixth grade. I pulled it back out of the book and tied it on my wrist. It was lime green and five different shades of blue. It had tiny clear glass beads around the edges. After every box was labeled, taped up, and brought down stairs Summer and I rush to Casey's house to help her. We knocked on the front door. Casey dad greeted us at the door and led us to Casey's room. Every thing in their house was bare. There was just tons of boxes all taped up, littering the floor. " So, what you doing?" I asked Casey as I walked in her room. " Packing, the same you should be doing," She replied. " I finished," I answered back, " just my room, that's all my mom said I had to do." Just then my cell phone rang. I looked who it was and found out it was my house. " Oh, No," I moaned, "What did I do now?.. No.. Really! No.. later," My face brightened, "OK.. I'll see you later Bye!" I hung up and squealed with joy. It was my dad, he was finally home! " You sound like a pig," Summer said in between gasps of laughter. " Hello? Is this the Animal Control?" Casey asked. She was using her fingers for a phone. " Because there is a loose pig here, yes a pig on the loose. Can you pick it up? Thanks." The room erupted with laughter. We laugh for about ten minutes. As Casey was just putting the last thing in her last box my phone rang again. This time it was my mom. She wanted to know if my friends wanted to eat dinner over at my house. They said sure and we walked over to my house. Tonight we were having Mexican food. Tacos, rice, and a huge plate of nachos. I helped my mom set the table and then get the food ready. The nachos were my favorite. The cheese was all goopy and melted all over the meat and lettuce. Yummy. I called my dad to the table and gave him a huge hug! My little brother came running up to me and jumped on my back. His name is Adam and his is nine. Like Summer's little sister and brother. The twins. " Get off of me," I yelled pushing him off. He jumped off and sat down at the table. " Sit down you guys," I told my friends. They sat. I sat in the middle of them and we started to fill our plates. First my mom brought out the tacos. The room was soon filled with crunching through the hard tacos shells. I love tacos!! After the tacos were gone, and they were gone fast, my mom got the rice and nachos. I silently sipped my coke as I thought about California. The only part that I have been to was Sacramento. That's where my cousins live. I finished my first plate of nachos and then got more. A lot more. That night after dinner Casey and Summer helped me load up my stuff in the baggage compartment. About twenty fully-grown adults could fit in there! We could fit everything in there except my brother's toy box. That went inside my mom's car. Casey, and her mom were going to come with us in the RV. Her dad was going to drive their car to California. They only have one car because her mom doesn't work. My dad was going to drive his car and my mom was going to drive the RV with her car hooked on the back. There was just a shelf and a dresser that couldn't fit that was Casey's parents, so that went in their truck. Summer had to go home around eight o'clock. Casey and her parents slept over so that we could get an early start in the morning. Before I closed the front door, I saw a figure moving in the dark. It was running up my driveway. " Lizzie wait," It called. I realized that it was Summer. I stopped and turned around. " Yeah?" I asked. Summer slowed down into a walk. " This is for you," She said handing me a present. "Thanks, do you want me to open it now or later?" I asked. "Whenever you want," she replied. I sat down on the cement and pulled the bow off. Then I started to tear off the wrapping paper. I unwrapped a medium sized box. Inside there was a card with ten dollars from Summer, a necklace with a charm that was a puzzle piece. Summer showed me the other half. If you fit it together it said Best Buds. There was also a little teddy bear, a charm for my charm bracelet that said 100% SPOILED ROTTEN, and a goodbye card from everybody and that had twenty dollars in it. I hugged Summer and told her that she could visit us anytime that she wanted. Just then my mom called me and I said bye to Summer. Casey was already in my room with her pajamas on. I changed into mine and sat down on my bed. After a while I got down on the floor on my knees and reached under my bed. I pulled out the trundle underneath it. I heard it pop and knew that it would be safe. Casey put her thing on top and spread out her blanket. Down stairs I heard a knock on the front door. Someone opened it and then started to greet the person. I heard a familiar voice and raced down stairs. I was right. It was my sister. I jumped up and gave her a huge hug.  
  
" Why are you here?" I asked her jumping impatiently from one foot to the other. Casey came down stairs too. " Well, I was allowed to leave one day earlier than I was supposed to," She said hugging me. My sister was in advanced classes from fifth grade to twelfth grade. " Hi Casey," Courtney said, " It is Casey, right?" " Yeah," Casey told my sister. " Mom, can I drive my car to California?" Courtney asked. " Well, who do you think is going to drive it?" Mom joked. " Can we ride with her," I asked pointing to Casey and me. My sister has a convertible! It is so cool, it's blue and it has purple streaks on the sides. She bought it on her own, and it is not the dull kind of car, it is shiny! " Sure," Mom said. " Yeah!" I said jumping up. " You can sleep in my room, with us," I told Courtney. " That's ok, I have my room," she replied. There was nothing in the room except the bed. Well, in every room. We are going to buy new beds in California. Guess what?! Casey's house is right next to ours! Her parents wanted a house by mine so they got the one that is on the right side of us. Those houses are all new. People are building a shop on the other side of my house. Soon, it is going to be a surf shop. They are still building it though. Oh, did I tell you that we are right near the beach? Just walk across the street and you are there. Casey and I ran up to our room and got out my flashlight. I turned it on and set right in that crack of where the beds meet. The light made circle on the ceiling. My brother barged through my open door and told me that Courtney wanted to give me something in her room. I motioned to Casey to follow me and we walked quietly to her room. Her door was open so I walked in. She was sitting on her bed with a box in her hand. She opened it and handed me a package, my brother and Casey. There were still two more packages. She told me that they were for Summer and Hannah. She always gets something for them when she comes back. This was her second year in collage. I opened mine and inside was a little crystal dog with a ruby collar, and a little charm that was the same kind of dog but only it was small and it was silver. I picked it up and put in on my bracelet. It was right next to the one Summer gave me. Inside Casey's, there was a crystal flower with a little bee inside. I heard someone coming up the stairs so Casey and I made a dash to my room. I just got into bed as my dad came up the last step. I turned off my flashlight and hid it. My dad walked right past my room into his. The next morning I woke up to the shaking my bed. My brother was jumping on it. I threw a pillow at him and looked at my watch. It was only 7:04 in the morning. The sun hadn't even started to rise yet. I threw another pillow at my brother and this time he fell off my bed. " Ha ha ha," I laughed evilly. I woke up Casey and Sara would slept in our room and we changed into our clothes. We grabbed all of our stuff and ran down stairs. We were the last ones up. "Can I ride with Casey and Lizzie?" Adam asked. " No," I snapped. " Lizzie," Mom warned me. " No." she told Adam. We all sat down to breakfast. My dad handed out walkie-talkies to the people that were driving. He told them to turn them to cannel three. They were for if someone needed to turn they could tell the other drivers. Sometimes I think my dad is wacky, but his ideas work. We finished our breakfast, washed the dishes and put them in the box, and then in the RV, we started to load up. I remembered the packages for Summer and Hannah so I told Courtney. She wrote their names on them and I ran over to Summer's house. I left the packages on their doorstep and hopefully Summer would give Hannah's her present. I put my bag of things to do in the front seat of Courtney's car and climbed in. The bag had some books to read, my headphones with all my CD's in my CD holder, some candy, food, drinks, a blanket, stuffed animals, and a pillow. I also had my purse with me so I could buy something when we stopped at a gas station. Casey climbed in the back. She didn't have that much room because Courtney's things were back there from collage. Casey had about the same things in her bag. Sara was in the RV with my brother and Casey's mom, Mrs. Elmer. Courtney climbed in the car. She handed me the walkie-talkie. I tested it, just to see if it was working. I found out it was when my brother shouted into it to get everyone's attention. The walkie-talkies were also if we got separated we could tell each other when to turn at an exit or street. Courtney started up the car and got right behind the RV. Casey's dad was driving their truck behind us. We were off. Courtney put the top down of the car. After about an hour when we were still in Washington, I fell asleep and then I woke up when we were at a gas station. I noticed that Casey was sleeping I climbed in the back and woke her up. We walked in the store and looked around. I found a package of sour straws. I picked out the strawberry flavored ones. Then I decided to get some for Courtney. I looked around and found nothing that interested me. I paid for my items and met Casey outside We walked back to the car and waited for Courtney. When she came I handed her pack of the sour straws. I gave some to Casey. I like to lick all the sour sugar off and then eat the gummy straw. After about another hour it started to rain. Courtney put up the top. Right when she did the rain came down heavier and sounded like bullets on the roof. Just then the walkie-talkie rang. I waited until it finished and called back. My dad came on telling us to be sure to turn at exit 18. I told him that we would. Remember when we were at the beach I said, " This is when the trouble starts"? Well, here's more. Again, I drifted off for about an hour and a half. When I woke up I pulled my blanket up closer to me. And fell asleep again for about five minutes. When I woke up the second time we were stopped and there was not even a stoplight ahead. Just then my dad came on the radio again. He said that lightning struck a tree and the tree fell. We stayed parked for about a half hour. Finally the truck came to move the tree. That took about another fifteen minutes. By the time that we could move again an hour had passed! The next thing we had to do was stop again to get gas. I fell asleep again with the back of my seat pushed back and my headphones on blaring. The next thing I felt was the wind in my face. I sat up still half a sleep and took off my headphones. I reached inside my bag and pulled out my Gatorade. It was Riptide Rush. I also had Strawberry Kiwi. I took a long, refreshing drink. I asked Courtney if we were still in Washington and she said yeah but only for one more mile. We were in Oregon the next time we had trouble we didn't have to stay parked. We had to drive back to Washington. Here's what happened.  
  
  
  
  
  
Chapter 3  
  
Well, we had heard on TV that some roads were going to be closed do to construction. Oh, sorry, not some, a lot. And the road that we had to take was closed. We had been in Oregon for about twenty miles. So we had to drive back twenty-one miles just to reach a hotel. Of course there were others but none of them were nice, or they cost too much. The best one was one mile back in Washington. Courtney, Casey and I all shared a hotel room. Inside the room were two beds with down comforters, a couch, a small refrigerator, a microwave, a one-burner stove, a small sink, a dresser with a TV with cable, a table to eat at with two chairs, and two over sized armchairs. Courtney said that she would sleep on the couch so Casey and I slept on the beds. I took a nice long shower and then changed into the other clothes that I had brought. I also brought my PJ's and two stuffed animals. After I changed I met my family in the dining room. For dinner I had a big hamburger and a chocolate milk shake. Oh, don't forget the fries. After dinner I was stuffed. I went upstairs and changed again; into my PJ's. Casey, Courtney and I sat on the couch and watched TV until ten- thirty. Then we all went to bed because we had to get up early in the morning. The next morning I met my family again in the dinning room for breakfast. Before we were ready to leave again, my dad checked to see if the road was fine to drive on. It was so we a climbed in Courtney's car again and we started off. Oh, did I tell that we left my dogs at home? No, we didn't, they are in the RV. The new road was going to be opened in an hour and a half. So, we all dug through our boxes and grabbed our bathing suits. Then we all jumped into the pool. We played water volleyball for a long time and the next thing I knew we were on the road again. This time Casey sat in the front. Summer moved all her stuff in the trunk so I had the whole back seat to my self. The top was down and the wind was blowing in my face. I lied down on the seat and fell asleep. I woke up about an hour later and Casey and Courtney were listening to the music. It was blaring. The song ended and another one started. It was my favorite song by Pink. I think it is called "Misunderstood". I started to sing along and Casey joined in. After another gas station visit we were on the road again. I bought another drink, mine was almost gone, a bar of chocolate, and a lollipop, that I had to beg my mom for. I fell asleep again with my foot on the armrest between Casey and Courtney. It seamed like I slept for only ten minutes when Courtney woke me up. We were not driving and I looked around. We were parked in front of a light blue house with a white wrap-around porch. It was the house that my dad showed me in the picture the day that he got back. Also the one that I saw Casey's parents walking up the driveway of the house by ours. It was light yellow with a wrap- around porch it was white, too. I opened up the door to the car and hopped out. I noticed that there was a bay window that looked out to the beach. There was one in Casey's house. I followed my parents in the house and explored the house. The last room that I explored was the one with the bay window. It was huge! It also had french doors that led to a balcony. The balcony faced the other house, which was Casey's. Casey's house was exactly like ours. Their house had a balcony facing the balcony on my house. I think that the room was supposed to be a bedroom and I hoped it was mine! I told my mom about the room as we unpacked the RV and cars. She said that dad and her had already talked about what rooms that we got and she would tell us in a minute. I unloaded the RV as fast as I could. I couldn't wait. When my mom told us about our rooms she showed them to us. My sister got the room on the right to the balcony room. My brother got the one on the left of the balcony room and my parents got the one on the right of Courtney's. So that meant that I got the balcony room! There was another room down stairs but that was for guests. I ran back down stairs and found most of my boxes and started to bring them up stairs to my house. I had to make about ten trips. The first thing that went in my room was my furniture. My walls were painted light blue, like the walls in my old room and I had three doors. One was the door to get in and out of my room, another was for a small closet. My other closet was a walk-in one. And the last door was my own bathroom! Well, I only had to share it with Courtney because Adam's room was right near the other bathroom. He didn't have one of his own. There was another bathroom downstairs on the second floor. The first floor was going to be our playroom, recording studio, and laundry room. You could get to the garage by the playroom, instead of going out the front door on the second story and walking down all these steps. On the second story right by the kitchen there was a sunroom! There was a small balcony with steps winding down to the ground, by the pool. Well, before I get wrapped up any more, I have to unpack all my boxes. Bye! Finally, I have all my boxes unpacked, and all my things put away. This is what my room looked like; there was my dresser between my door and the closet door, an oversized armchair across from that on the other side of the room by the french doors, a bookshelf by my bathroom door, a small table one the other side of my bathroom door. I walked out on the balcony and spotted Casey in the room with the balcony in her house. Her doors were open so I started to call to her. I got her attention right away. I asked if I could come over and help her unpack. She said sure. My parents said that they would finish the rest of the house. I ran over to Casey's house and knocked on the door. Mrs. Elmer told me to come in. I ran up to Casey's room. "Hi," I said. " Hi." I heard a voice but didn't know where it was coming from. Casey emerged from the closet. She was hanging up clothes. " Need any help?" I asked. " No, I'm almost done," she replied, I don't have to do the rest of the house." "Neither do I," I said as I pulled out a shirt from a box. There were only five more shirts to be put away. After we finished I called my mom and told her that we were going to go to the beach. I already had my bathing suit on so we grabbed some towels and were off. At the beach there was a concession stand a surfboard rental and a bathroom. The first thing that we did was go rent a surfboard. They were ten dollars. I only had seven, so Casey paid for the rest and then rented her own. I told her that I would pay her back but she said "no". After we found a spot on the beach we found a good spot to ride the waves. There was already a small group of kids out there. We paddled out and rode a couple of waves to shore. I had surfed before since I have came to California before, so has Casey. We were really good surfers. I started surfing the first time I came to California, which was when I was about four years old. We came back every summer for about two weeks, sometimes on long weekends, on any vacations that we had off from school and any time that we wanted too. We surfed for about an hour and more kids started too show up. On the last wave that we rode in, a girl that was about the same age as us made Casey fall off her surfboard. We walked up to her and I asked, " What's your problem?" Her answer was, " Next time get in line," I replied, " Next time get a number." The girl walked away with a disgusted look on her face. "Those are people you don't want to hang out with," I told Casey like she didn't already know. We walked back to our street and separated to our houses. I ran upstairs and leaned my surfboard against the side of my balcony rails. Did I tell you that there is stairs that start at my balcony and go to the ground? Well, if I didn't, sorry. I ran back down stairs to help my mom finish unpacking the living room. The kitchen and every other room in the house were done! The living room was easy. All we had to do was finish put the CD's on the CD holder and set up the TV. After that it was about four O'clock. I asked my mom what we were going to have for dinner and she said that we were going to go out until we get food. It was just my family. Casey's didn't come. We went to this restaurant called Sweet Waters around five. I ordered a dish of baby back ribs, mashed potatoes, and a small salad. For dessert I had cheesecake, plain, nothing on it. I ate everything, which is so surprising because I hardly eat anything at home. When we got back to our house it was still light out so Casey, and her family and me and my family all went into our front year and played some volleyball. Casey has a volleyball net. It was the kids against the parents. Courtney was on the parents' team. We played till fifteen and the kids won twice. We had to stop in between. After our second game Casey warned me that that girl that we had seen at the beach while we were surfing was walking up the drive. She paused at the sidewalk and waved to us. Then she called to Casey and I. We reluctantly walked over to her. " Hi, my name is Stacey," the girl said to us. " I'm sorry about the thing at the beach." " My name is Casey and this is Lizzie," Casey spoke for me, " We are new here." " You don't look like sisters," Stacey replied. " We are not," I said " we are friends. Our parents both got transferred in their directing business." " Oh, my dad works for a computer program company," Stacey said, " The manager said that they were getting two new staff members, um, Nancy Spezzafarro and Al Elmers. I think." " Elmer, and those are our parents," Casey said. " Well, I also wanted to know if you two would like to join my babysitting club. You might get to meet a lot of people." Stacey ensured us. " Let's ask our parents," I told Casey. We ran over and asked them. They said yes! We ran back and told Stacey the good news. We talked about the club and when it met and all sorts of things. Then we asked if she wanted to join our game. She said sure. We played about two more games and we won only one. Stacey's mom called her from across the street and she ran home. That night I slept on the pull out couch thinking about what my school was like. Today was the first day of school but we were starting tomorrow. Courtney's school starts tomorrow, though. She was still going to the same college since her college was in California. My school got out at 4:30 and Adam's and Sara's got out at 2:30. Theirs started earlier though. I feel asleep at about eleven o'clock with thoughts and questions flying and buzzing inside my head like a pack of honeybees about seventh grade. All my thoughts and questions would be answered the next day. As I got ready for my first day of school, which was a Wednesday, more thoughts filled my head and I thought that it was going to explode! I ran up to my room and yelled to Casey from my balcony. We were walking to school with Stacey. We lived about a block from the school. I grabbed my book bag and ran out the door to Casey's house. As Casey ran out the door, Stacey came charging out of her house, too. Stacey's book bag was bouncing against her back. I had a book bag that went over on shoulder. Casey's was like mine. We walked to school slowly talking and meeting people along the way. When we got to school I had already met five other members of the babysitting club. Including Casey and I there was only eight. The club was going to hold their meeting today in Stacey's bedroom. She has her own phone line and she was the one who came up with the club. The other five members were Maria, Dawn, Natasha, Melody, and Isabella. Melody and Isabella are sisters. We walked into the school and we all went to the school office to sign Casey and me in. The secretary gave us our class list, locker number and lock. We all compared class lists and locker numbers. The cool thing is that all eight of our class lists were the same except for Natasha's, she had science at a different period, and our lockers were all by each other. Not in a row but close. We headed for our locker and then headed for our first period. That was science so Natasha wasn't in our class. Our teacher was really funny and nice. His name was Mr. Drew. He let us sit anywhere we want. He also handed Casey and I our books that we would need for class. That class was so much fun! We only did one page of science and an experiment with rocks. Then for the rest of the class we played games that had to do with science. Lunch came in a flash. We met outside to eat. I brought my lunch that day and when I opened my lunch bag there was a brownie with the words " Happy Birthday." I set it a side and Isabella asked me if it was my birthday and I said "yes." Everybody said happy birthday to me. My last three classes went by in a flash. After I got home from school I did my home, which I didn't have a lot of, and then watched TV until the meeting. I called Stacey to ask if I needed anything and she said "no." I called to my dad that I was leaving and ran across the street to Stacey's house. Her mom answered the door and told me where her room was. I walked up the stairs and opened up the door slowly. " Come in," voices chorused. I opened the door the rest of the way and walked in. I sat down on Stacey's bed next to Isabella and Dawn. Casey and Maria hadn't arrived yet. Just then the door swung open and Casey, followed by Maria came running into the room. Casey sat on the floor under my feet and Maria sat next to her. Casey was rummaging through a plastic bag that she had brought with her. She pulled out a bag of lollipops and a bag of small Hershey bars. She opened them and passed the bags around. " They are from a party that we didn't need. Don't worry they are not old," Casey said. That minute the phone rang. On the second ring Isabella answer the phone, " Hello, Baby-Sitting Agency. Yes, Sure, hold on please." Isabella covered the mouthpiece of the phone; " It's the Smiths they need someone to baby- sit for them tomorrow at five 'til six thirty." Maria opened up a notebook, a composition, you know the one that has white and black on it, and turned to tomorrow's date. " I'm free and so is Dawn, Natasha, Stacey and you two," she said pointing to Casey and me. Do you want the job? There are only two kids, Sam and Carol." " Ok," I said. So Maria took a pencil and wrote my name in the notebook. Right after she hung up the phone rang again. This time I answered it. " Hello Baby-sitting Agency, Yes. Ok. Yes. Hold on please. It the Kinhals they need a baby-sitter on Friday, from six-thirty to seven," I said. Maria looked in the notebook and reported: "Isabella and Stacey are the only ones free and of course you two." "I have a orthodontist appointment," Casey said glumly. " You take it, Isabella," Stacey offered. I told Mr. Kinhal who was going to be there and hung up. We had a few more calls from the McAndrews, Perkisons, and the Rushfires. After the meeting was over Casey and I went up to my room and just talked about all different things until Mom called me down to go shopping. I said bye to Casey and hopped into the front seat of the car. While Mom went shopping Adam, Courtney and I looked at all the animals at the pet shop. My mom met us after she was done shopping for our food. She whispered into my ear. After she was done a hugged her, right inside of the store! If you are wondering what my mom told me I will tell you, she said that I could pick any small animal from the pet store for my birthday. She means small animal as like a bird, fish, any animal other than a dog, since we already had two. A parakeet had caught my eye before, and so had dwarf rabbits, hamsters, and gerbils. My favorite was an all white rabbit. It was albino. It could fit in the palm of my hand. Well, almost. I noticed Courtney pull my away and talked to her quietly. My mom nodded and then said something back. " Mom, I want this little white rabbit!" I called. There was no one else in the store except for the cashier. My mom walked up to me and looked at the rabbit. She nodded and motioned Courtney to come to her. Courtney told me that for my birthday present from her that I could pick another animal!! I immediacy ran over to the bird pen and pointed to a small bright yellow lovebird. " This one," I called to Courtney. I was all most yelling. Adam got to me first. " No fair! She gets two pets and I get to carry the dog food!" Adam was holding two bags of puppy chow. "Duh" I said. My mom got a cart and put the food in the cart for Adam. I told my mom what bird I wanted and then I told the man at the cash register. He walked over to the bird pen and picked up the bird and placed him inside of a small box. Then he took the rabbit out of his pen and placed him in another box. My mom was looking for cages and she found a really neat one for the bird. It came with a stand. Then another for the rabbit. I looked around for bedding, food and some toys for the birdcage. I also found a rabbit leash. It is if you are going to take the rabbit outside so he doesn't run away. I found a blue one and took it up to the counter were my mom was with every thing else. She paid for every thing and we took it to the truck. This time Courtney and I sat in the back with my new pets. Now I had four pets! I hope Angel and Pugsly weren't going to be jealous that I had two more pets. If you were thinking that Angel and Pugsly were the family's pet's your wrong. They were giving to me for two other birthdays! Even though I have more pets, I will still love my dogs the same. As we were driving home, I put my new pets in there new cages. My bird went right on to his perch. I called her Sunshine. The man in the pet store said that she was the only girl bird that he had left. I called my rabbit Thumper because right when he got inside his cage he started to hop around and it made a thumping noise. At first my mom thought it was the engine. As we got home I saw a huge banner above my front door. As we drove in the drive way the banner screamed: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LIZZIE!! Then there was balloon tied on our mailbox. I ran out of the car and in to the front door. When I got inside I was greeted with a chores of " Happy Birthday Lizzie!" I was so surprised that I almost drooped the cages that I was carrying. I set them down and ran over to my dad who was standing by the couch with his camcorder. I gave him a huge hug. Then I showed my friends my new pets. They followed me up to my room where I was going to keep them. My new bed was in my room! Remember that we left our beds in Washington. My mom follow the gang with the two stands for the cages. I let her set them up by my dogs' bed by my french door leading to my balcony. Yup, my dogs sleep in my room too. In a doggie bed. We used to have two dog beds but Pugsly always wanted to sleep with Angel for company so we let him. Oh, and if you were wondering if I had carpet in my room, I don't. My room is a wood floor with a big star and moon shag rug in the middle. I was going to put the birdcage outside by if I take him out he might fly away. I moved the dogs' bed by my bay window and Pugsly jumped inside, turned around twice flopped down. I opened up the Sunshine's cage and put in her water, food, and toys that were a mirror, and a string of bells. She went right over to the bells and grabbed them in her beck and shook them. Then after we had the cages in place we ran back down stairs to start my party. Everyone in the in the Baby-sitting Agency was there. I guess my dad and friends had been busy when we were gone. On the living coffee table there was about twelve presents!! And I got two more in my room; my new pets, so that's fourteen presents! I looked outside and saw that the pool had all different colored balloons in it! I ran upstairs and changed into my bathing suit that I bought with Summer and Casey in Washington. Everyone was already in the pool so I ran into the sunroom and clamored down the twisting stairs. We swam in the pool, and relay races and played Marco Polo. Mom brought out a cake that said " Happy Birthday" on it in blue icing. We devoured the cake and then the ice cream. Then I opened my presents. Casey gave me two presents; they were a pair of earrings that were made with feathers and a matching necklace and bracelet and a new purse that goes across my shoulder and it had Velcro on the front so I could stick letters to spell words on it. I opened all my other presents, too. Then we went back outside to swim. By the time we changed in to our clothes again it was already ten thirty! Then every body's parents came to pick them up. Except Casey's and Stacey's. Casey was sleeping over and Stacey walked across the street to her house. Casey and I ran upstairs to get ready for bed. Casey was going to sleep on my bay window. It is really cool and comfortable. It has curtains that are light blue, silk that you can pull back so you can see the rest of the room. Or if you want to be by yourself you just leave them hanging. I changed into my silk Pj's that I got for my birthday from my brother and the Casey and I played with all my pets. Angel and Pugsly loved Sunshine and Thumper! The chased Thumper but never hurt him and the tried to catch Sunshine but she stayed on the top of her cage. We have to clip her wings twice a month so that she can't fly away. We played with them for forty-five minutes and it was eleven fifteen. We put the animals away and climbed into bed. Well, I climbed into bed, Casey climbed into the bay window. I didn't fall asleep until twelve thirty. I was thinking about Washington and all my friends there and my school. I felt a tear leave my eye and roll down my cheek. I quickly wiped it away. I woke up the next morning to the sound of barking and tweeting. I looked into the darkness and turned on a light. Whoa, that woke my up. I saw my dogs jumping and barking and running after Sunshine. Some how she had gotten out of her cage. Casey woke up, too, from all that barking. I whistled and Sunshine came flying to me and sat on my finger. I got up and put her back in her cage. I noticed that she felt a little heavier than she did yesterday. I also noticed the time on my alarm clock. I had only fifteen minutes to get to meet Stacey. I was so glad that it was a Thursday. Want to know why? Well, My science teacher Mr. Drew said that every Thursday we are going to do labs and experiments. I told Casey the time and she sprung out of bed like a kangaroo. We changed into our clothes, brushed our teeth and messily did our hair. We ran down stairs and each grabbed a piece of toast and ran out the door. I guess Stacey was running late, too. She ran outside and we nearly collided. " Hi," Stacey said as we slowed down into a jog. " How late are we?" Casey asked. " We have four minutes 'til the first bell," I pointed out. " Four minutes!" Casey exclaimed out of breath. " Yup," Stacey said. We got to school just as the first bell rang. We ran to our classes and I just slid into my seat as the second bell rang. The first bell means get your butt to class and the second one means your late! Mr. Drew did the roll call as we copied down our homework off the chalkboard. We only had a worksheet about the periodic table. After that we started our experiments. They were so much fun! After science my next class was language arts, then reading. Then lunch. After that were my last three classes. After school was dismissed I went home and started my homework. Then I started dinner. I am supposed to start dinner, because my parents don't come home until seven thirty. And Adam is at football practice, which starts at three-thirty and ends at four forty-five. At four forty-five exactly, Adam came into the kitchen, threw his helmet on the floor and ran into the living room with an apple. If you want to know how Adam got into football this quickly since we moved, I'll tell you. In Washington he was the best on his team, he was the quarterback, and the coach in California heard that he was moving to California so they asked him on the team. Well, after that I noticed the time. I had fifteen minutes to get to the Smiths. I tied my sneakers on, said bye to Adam and ran over to the next street. It was called King road. Guess what my street was called? Queen road. Yup, Queen road. I looked for the house number 222 and walked up the driveway and on to a walkway leading to the front door. There were bikes and toys out in the lawn. I rang the doorbell and waited. A skinny lady with light brown hair answered the door. " You must be Lizzie, I'm Mrs. Smith. Come on in." I followed Mrs. Smith into a playroom/den. There I found two kids. They must be Sam and Carol, I thought. There mom introduced me to the kids and they seamed to like me right away. Then Mrs. Smith gave me instructions and told me where the emergency numbers where. Then she glided out the door and was gone. " So what do you guys want to do first?" I asked kneeling down by Carol who was playing with Barbies. Carols five and Sam is eight. Sam was playing with their dog, Candy. " Play outside," Carol said to her Barbie. " Let's play outside." So we all went outside on the swing set. We let Candy run around and enjoy the fresh air. The kids played outside for an hour peacefully. Then I said, " Do you guys want a snack?" Like any kid, of course, so we trooped back inside and had a snack of apples and peanut butter. Yum. That's where we were when Mrs. Smith came back. Sam was just finishing his apple and Carol finished drinking her milk. Mrs. Smith had a armful of shopping bags. I jumped off of the counter stool to help her. " Thanks honey," Mrs. Smith said as I took two bags for her. " That's O.k.," I replied. I set the bags on the counter. " Mommy?" Carol asked, " Can Lizzie baby-sit for us next time too?" " She was fun, and a good cook," Sam informed his mom. " She can if she wants too," Mrs. Smith said as she slipped my pay into her hand, with a five-dollar bonus! " Thanks," I said, "And I will like to baby-sit for you guys next time." "Yes," Sam said pumping his fist in the air. " Bye guys," I said as I walked out the door. I put the money into my pocket and ran on home. When I got home my dad was home. " Hey what are you doing home?" I asked as I grabbed an apple and sat at the counter. " I got out of work early today," he said peering over the top of the newspaper. " Where's Adam?" I asked my dad. " Still in the living room watching TV." "Oh well, I'm going to call Casey," I mumbled as I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I dialed her room phone and waited for her to pick up. " Hello," a voice said. " Hey, Case, what's up?" I asked. " Nothing how did your job go?" " Great. The kids already want me to sit for them next time too." " Cool. Oh, sorry I have got to go." " O.k." I said. I hung up and ran up to my room. I played with my dogs for a while and my bird and rabbit. Then I went to help with finishing dinner. Adam was setting the table so I made a salad. When my mom got home we sat down to a hamburger, corn on the cob and a nice fresh, crisp salad, dinner. For a while we sat in silence eating until Adam and my dad started talking about football. Aaaahh! That's like the only thing my brother thinks about. After all the dishes were loaded into the dishwasher, and the table was cleared off, dad called a family meeting. He only calls them if we are going on a trip or someone died or something. We follow him into the den and sit down. My parents sat on the couch and Adam and I sat in armchair facing them. Mom started to say something but my dad cut in. " Kids, We have some very important new to tell you, " Dad started. " We are moving back to Washington?" Adam asked. " No," Dad said. " Your mom is.. Um," His voice trailed off. But he had a grin the size of the chestier cat. " Pregnant," Mom said in a small voice rubbing her stomach. I noticed that it was bigger, a lot. I guess I was too busy to notice. " Really?" I squeaked. " Really, Really, " Dad said. " I jumped up and hugged my mom. "How long?" Adam asked " How long what?" Mom asked. " 'till you have the baby?" Adam asked. " A month and a half," Mom replied. " A month!" I exclaimed, " I can't wait that long!" " You!" Mom said, " How do you think I feel?" Dad let out a small chuckle. " Can I help you pick out every thing now?" I asked, " And Casey?" " Sure, go call her, " Mom said getting up. " Then I don't need your father." Dad threw a pillow at her. I ran upstairs to call Casey. " Casey, guess what?" I practically screamed into the phone. " What?" She screamed. " My mom is going to have a baby!!" I screamed in the phone. I could hear Casey screaming too. " Babies," Mom called from downstairs. I screamed some more. I told Casey the news and ran down stairs. Casey was already at the door. Mom was already in the car and starting it up. We ran to it and jumped in. We clicked our seatbelts in place and were off. After a while of driving and talking we pulled up to a store called, Just Babies. I jumped out and practically pulled my mom out of the car. We ran in side and the first thing we saw was the clothes. " Let's start with the big things first," Mom said coming up behind me. We found a white crib that my mom liked and a white changing table and also a white rocking chair. Then we looked for padding and blankets for the crib and changing table. " Mom are the babies girls or boys?" I asked. " Well, I don't know, I didn't ask what they were. I want to be surprised," My mom said. She was talking to a sales clerk at the same time she was talking to me. Casey and I ran off. After my mom got two cribs, a rocking chair and a changing table, we looked for padding, and lining for them. We picked out lavender padding for the changing table and lavender blankets and sheets for the two cribs. Also my mom got two bassinets for the babies. Not lavender, white. (If you are wondering why my mom is getting two cribs and bassinets, it is because she knows how many babies she is having not what the are.) Clothes time!! Yea. I love looking at all the little baby clothes. Everything is so cute! We are only going to get a little bit of clothes and toys because we are having a baby shower after the babies are born and everyone is probably going to get the babies clothes and toys. Mom picked out yellow, blue and lavender colored clothes. " Newborn to six months," mom said as she looked through the racks of clothes. There were tons of clothes that could have been for boys or girls with like bears or rabbits on the booties or hats. We picked out eight pairs of clothes. They all had booties or hats. Or both. Chapter 4 It was about nine-thirty when we got home. I was sooo tired. I sleepily brush my teeth and pulled on my PJ's. Went I got into bed I buried my face and cried my self to sleep. I missed Summer and Hannah and everyone in Washington. I guess who never really miss your friends until you really do.  
  
When I got up the next morning I sulked around getting ready for school. I sulked when I was brushing my teeth. I sulked out the door. I walked to school with Casey and weighed my options. Either I could call Summer now or later. I thought and then decided, now. 


End file.
